8 Enchanting Ways to Create Your Very Own Bridgerton-Inspired Garden

The award-winning Netflix series Bridgerton not only features inspiring acting—it also boasts enchanting gardens and landscapes designed to emulate the British Regency period. Think loose, cascading plants, fragrant rose blooms, and old stone walls with creeping ivies that feel as if they’re hiding secrets lost to time.

Though most of us don’t live on British country estates, we can recreate their design with a few choice architectural elements and well-maintained pathways. In that sense, we can all be a 19th-century romantic à la Penelope Featherington in our own version of a Regency-era garden. Ahead, we spoke with garden designers about how to create a Bridgerton-inspired garden at home.

Plant Roses

Jo Thompson, a UK-based garden designer, says beautiful climbing and rambling roses create scent, just the thing that any romantic garden needs. Look for climbing rose varieties and plant in a sunny spot where they can creep up a stone wall or archway, or up the side of a pergola. Roses planted throughout the garden will offer a sweet smell no matter where you walk.

Install a Pergola

How else to display a climbing rose, wisteria, or clematis than with a pergola that allows these fragrant vines to weave and droop? A pergola placed in the middle of the garden can provide shade once your vining plants have taken over the top. Place a table and chairs underneath and you have just the right spot to enjoy a glass of rosé on a summer night.

Incorporate Ornate Details

If you’re truly looking for that regencycore look, consider buying pots with intricate lattice designs or regal-looking floral patterns. Plant small topiaries in these, or colorful dahlias that would also make great arrangements. Also, consider stone bird baths, carved teakwood benches, and short stone or marble columns that can double as plant stands.

Create Topiaries

Not only do well-trimmed topiaries provide a point of interest and a landmark within the garden, they can also give the element of seclusion, says Thompson. Depending on how closely placed, topiaries can create a visual screen, especially if they’re trimmed in all the same shape. 

Design a Courtyard

A secluded area, preferably with a focal element like a fountain or water feature, offers a natural meeting spot and a central garden place. Consider planting irises, foxgloves, ferns, or any cottage garden plants that can be contained within a central space, like alliums or tulips. Bonus if you can figure out how to make the courtyard feel secluded for private meetings or quiet contemplation.

Make Long Pathways

Butter Wakefield, garden designer and owner of Butter Wakefield Garden Design Ltd. shared a recent design of hers that featured large alliums, a water feature, and a path for meandering along “for a little formality!” says Wakefield. “The architecture helps, too, with the old stone walls.” For those perfect-looking pathways, use edging and gravel, and don’t forget to put down landscape cloth beforehand to stop the weeds from popping up.

Add Decorative Water Features

According to Thompson, even just the sound of water is romantic and should be considered as a feature. But if you don’t have a babbling brook nearby, consider installing a fountain or creating an in-ground pond with elaborate stonework around it. Your long pathway should have a natural resting area near the water feature for any garden guest to stop and enjoy calm splashes and bubbling.

Provide a Place to Sit

No matter how large the space you have to work with, you absolutely need a spot to rest after taking a tour of your recent plantings and new blooms. To set up your lounge area, Thompson recommends "long herbaceous borders with a romantic seat at the end" to give the perfect end to a long garden stroll. Consider planting a rose nearby for wafts of fragrance.